A Sense of Normalcy!
by No1butjoe
Summary: Dean couldn't help the unsettling feeling in his stomach. He just had to be sure. Tag to WIAWSNB. Warning: Language. Please, R&R. COMPLETE!


A Sense of Normalcy!

By No1butjoe

**A/N: This came to me recently. I hope you enjoy.**

**Warning: Language.**

**Disclaimer - I don't own Supernatural or the events in the episode "WIAWSNB'.**

**Summary - Dean couldn't help the unsettling feeling in his stomach. He just had to be sure.**

"_Bitch."_

"_Dude, what are you calling me a bitch for?"_

"_You're supposed to say jerk. Never mind."_

_- What Is and What Should Never Be_

The silence in the car was deafening even though Dean could already tell his brother was dying to say something. Ever since leaving the warehouse, Sam started several conversations, only to end up trailing off and leaving sentences unfinished. To be honest, Dean was grateful. He was exhausted, though he'd never admit it to Sam and the events that had played out in the djinn's twisted reality were weighing on him heavily.

"Dean?"

Said person opened one eye from his position in the passenger seat to look over at Sam.

"What?" he asked, sitting up a little in his seat, trying not to wince in the process.

"What did the djinn show you? I mean, when you were under it's spell, what did you see?"

Dean's other eye opened at the question and he sighed. He had known his little brother was going to ask, but he had expected him to at least wait another day or two. The memories of his time in that other place were still pretty fresh in his mind as well as the painful reminder that he hadn't belonged there. He belonged here, where his mother had died when he was four years old, where Sam's girlfriend, Jessica, had died the same way twenty some years later. Where he and Sam reconnected after years of silence. So lost in his thoughts, Dean hadn't realized Sam had been calling his name for the past couple of minutes until the Impala was pulling off to the side of the road and Sam was shaking his shoulder worriedly.

"Dean!" he shouted, anxiously.

Pushing away the younger hunter's hands, Dean sat up further in the seat.

"Dude, I'm fine," he insisted.

He watched as the look of concern crossed his brother's features and, for a brief moment, his thoughts turned to the other Sam. The one who had been in the other world. The one who knew what Mom looked like, who got to go to college, and who proposed and was engaged to Jessica. The one who had that look on his face when he thought Dean was stealing from their mother. The same look the real Sam had now.

"Dean, maybe we should-."

"No!" Dean protested a little too quickly, causing Sam to jump in his seat. "Just, no, Sam."

He visibly relaxed when Sam didn't press any further. The soothing sound of his baby firing up caused him to lean back in his seat, some of the tension leaving his body despite the aches and pains that remained. Still, there was a nagging sensation in the back of his mind, one that wouldn't let him go. So much so that he opened his eyes and, inconspicuously, looked over at Sam, who was too occupied with driving to notice. Dean couldn't help but compare his relationships with his Sam and the fake Sam.

Back in the other world, he and Sam didn't get along. They were strangers and that tore at Dean more than he thought it would. It never occurred to him what would've happened if he never went to retrieve Sam from Stanford and, honestly, he didn't want to think about it. No matter what world he lived in, he couldn't win. In the real world, his parents were dead, Jessica was dead, and he and Sam traveled together. In the fake world, Mom was alive, Dad was killed by a heart attack instead of the Yellow-Eyed Demon, Jessica was alive and engaged to Sam, and Dean and Sam weren't close at all.

In that instant, Dean's breath hitched in his throat and he forced his eyes open. He could feel Sam staring at him again, but ignored it.

"Dean?" his brother asked. "You okay?"

"How many times do I have to tell you I'm fine, Sammy?" he retaliated, irritated.

"I guess until I think you mean it," came the answer.

The pause after that was long and, as much as he tried to deny it, Dean couldn't help the unsettling feeling in his stomach. He just had to know. He had to be sure that this was, in fact, real. That he wasn't still under the spell of the djinn. The one word that would prove to him once and for all that he was truly back with his little brother.

"Bitch."

The dead silence afterwards seemed to stretch for miles and, afraid that he was right and this was all just a figment of his imagination, Dean tensed. Until…

"Jerk."

The relieved grin on Sam's face was enough to convince him. Though he wasn't quite ready to talk about it yet, Dean knew he was back. He was home.


End file.
